By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO–I don’t know why I’m surprised that a musical about the assassination of a president, or attempted assassinations of presidents and others should rattle my soul. Many years ago I was at production at San Diego State University Experimental Theatre and sat through the musical “Yours, Anne”, based on the play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, “The Diary of Anne Frank”.
In an issue of the guardian, one reviewer wrote of “Yours, Anne”, “Is it me? Or do you too find something a bit grisly about the idea of a musical based on the Diary of Anne Frank?” She ends her blog by asking another question, “Who needs it?”
The on again, off again seasonal projection of Stephen Sondheim’s “The Assassins” has finally landed a slot in San Diego’s theatre community at The Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. Granted it is THE Stephen Sondheim and his body of work is looked upon with reverence and admiration.
Yup, the very same Sondheim that wrote the music and lyrics to “Sunday In The Park With George”, “Company”, “Follies”, “A Little Night Music”, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”,“Into The Woods” and of course “Sweeney Todd”, among others. No question he has earned his stripes. And while some of his works are edgy, provocative and more than thought provoking, others are truly beautiful.
For those firmly entrenched in the Sondheim camp, I’m assuming anything he does will be admired. For yours truly, this one pushed some buttons that I found very disconcerting and rather distasteful.
When the proprietor of an old west shooting gallery (Andy Collins is great as the narrator), in the opening number of “Assassins”, (and I will grant you that it is a circus like atmosphere) encourages bystanders to come up to his shooting gallery and barks: (“Hey pal—Feelin’ blue? Don’t know what to do? Hey Pal—I mean you—Yeah. C’mere and kill a president. No job? Cupboard bare? One room, no one there? Hey pal, don’t despair—You want to shoot a president?”) I do have a problem with that whole scenario.
Furthermore, living through the nightmare of JFK, MLK, RFK and Sandy Hook (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg) especially with gun madness ravaging this country, adds to my dilemma.
In 1990 Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics to “The Assassins” with book by John Weidman. Cygnet Theatre’s fine production of Sondheim’s black comedy is played out in a number of vignettes.
It takes us into the minds, lives, craziness and loves of nine disgruntled, on the fringe and alienated American assassins starting with John Wilkes Booth (Braxton Molinaro a standout as the other actor) and spanning the centuries to Lee Harvey Oswald (Jacob Caltrider is a great choice).
Some of the lesser known would be killers like John Hinckley, Jr. (Kürt Norby is excellent as the guitar playing nut who was obsessed with Jodie Foster, and in the long run took a shot at Ronald Reagan), Samuel Byck (Manny Fernandes is on top of his game as a ranting and raving drunk.) Byck made an attempt on Richard Nixon life, Manny Leon Czolgosz, (Jason Maddy cops a great accent) and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme who tried to assassinate Gerald Ford, (Melissa Fernandes is always a pleasure to watch) are all are thrown into this mix. However, not all will be easily identifiable unless a quick study of the Play Bill is read before the show.
Let’s face it, it shouldn’t take an armchair psychologist to figure out that these deranged folks were well…deranged, felt alienated, and lived on the fringes.
In an exclusive interview with Sirhan Sirhan (he killed Robert Kennedy but was not among the ‘chosen’ for “Assassins”) by Robert L. Kaiser that appeared in the Jan. 17th 1969 issue of Life Magazine Sirhan was clearly angry at a piece about him by William F. Buckley that appeared in Esquire saying that Sirhan was “neither de jure nor de facto American.” To wit Sirhan blazed back “Not an American? “I feel like an American. If I went back to Jordan, I would feel like a foreigner.” “I feel like a man without a country”. “One thing is clear: even his name made him set apart.” “My name!” he cried with real anguish. “Sear-hann Sear-hann”. They wanted to know what kind of a name it was. “I began to associate more and more with my name. Sirhan means ‘wolf’, and I became more and more of a lone wolf”.
In case after case in “Assassins” we learn the nature of the characters and their idiosyncrasies; the why’s and wherefore’s of their thinking. The question is, do I really care? Treating them as anything more than what they were is disrespectful to those they left bleeding on the ground. It alters the moral fiber of our nation and another piece of our national fabric is stained forever.
I will admit that this production under the careful direction of Sean Murray, artistic director at The Cygnet Theatre lives up to his highest caliber both in his choice of an all-star cast and with musicians up to the task of making Sondheim’s music speak. (Patrick Marion is musical director).
Ryan Grossheim who is currently an MFA student at SDSU designed the effective carnival looking set, David Brannen choreographed, and Peter Herman’s wigs and Shirley Pierson’s costumes personified the times and added some lunacy and satire brought out in these characters. Chris Rynne’s lighting design and Matt Lescault-Woods sound (all the pistols went off without a hitch and they all had them) added satisfactorily to the technical elements.
With the exception of John Wilkes Booth who shot Lincoln supposedly because “he got bad reviews” and Lee Harvey Oswald (the jury is still out on his motives), most of the minor players like Leon Czolgosz, a Polish immigrant, came to America to become part the American Dream. He was a laborer but never anything beyond that. After becoming a supporter of Anarchist Emma Goldman (Sandy Campbell) he shot and killed President William McKinley ‘because he was an enemy of good —working people”.
Samuel Byck paraded around in a Santa Clause outfit after picketing the White House on Christmas Eve. He highjacked a commercial jetliner with the intention of crashing it into the White House and killing Richard Nixon. I don’t think I remember hearing or reading anything about him.
Those lesser known appear to be more interesting characters that were looking to make the big bucks or have their names go down in infamy (which of course they did) than both Booth and Oswald. Booth who was a ‘Passionate supporter of the Confederacy’ was truly caught up in the political noises of the time and felt he could change the course of history if Lincoln was out of the way. He was right!
There are reasons that this Sondheim piece isn’t tackled more often. The subject matter alone should make it fairly obvious. After opening Off-Broadway in 1990, it closed after 73 performances. In 1992 it opened in London and ran for 72 performances. It was scheduled to open again in 2001 but 911 happened and it was postponed once again. Finally, a 2004 Broadway revival with the added song “Something Just Broke” from the 1992 London Production prompted more to producers to take a second look. This final version seems to be the agreed formula for future shows.
It isn’t his best work to date (although many would disagree) and frankly, I have to add my two cents, “Who needs it?”
It will be 50 years in November the 22nd to be exact, that John Kennedy was shot and killed.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through April 28th
Organization: Cygnet Theatre
Phone: 619-337-1525
Production Type: Musical
Where: 4040 Twiggs St. San Diego, CA92110
Ticket Prices: $34.00-$59.00
Web: cygnettheatre.com
Venue: Theatre
*
Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic who may be contacted via carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com